• Youtube Timestamped Link
• Graphics : Fine
• Music / Sfx :
  
  • Music : Non-existent
  • SFX : Seemed fine
• GUI : Fine
• Gameplay :
  
  • It's a little fiddly.
  • Placement of sand/tetrominos is extremely sensitive [controller]
• Notes :
  • Level design tends to be very basic
  • I don't think anything suggested there was a 'wall-kick' to get extra distance.

Overall it's ok but feels lacking. There could've been a bit more done to make this interesting, namely level design and complexity, it's very samey throughout. There could've been a couple segments where it's akin to 'bridge builder' with a single small piece of land to build a tower/bridge on to cross the gap; as it is, most levels are rather easily able to be beaten by making a straight tower up and climbing it.

Hello! Welcome to Feedback Quest 8! My name's Hythrain, a co-host and one of the streamers for this event! This feedback is being written live as I stream your game! If you're interested in seeing my live reaction, let me know and I can send you a link to the VOD once it's posted to YouTube!

So my normal approach for any game in these events is simple: I get the game, make sure it's not a virus, then play it with as little information on how to play as possible. This way, I can judge how intuitively someone can figure out the game. Only if it's obvious that I need to read more will I do so. I note this so you can get a sense where some of these feedback comes from. In addition, I want to note that feedback and rating are different; don't use this feedback to gauge what I'll rate, nor should you view my rating as entirely indicative of my feedback.

FALSE ADVERTISING! THIS IS -NOT- A GAME ABOUT BUILDING SANDCASTLES AND HOW DARE YOU GET MY EXPECTATIONS UP! I WAS ALL EXCITED ABOUT BUILDING A SANDCASTLE AND I WAS ROBBED! ROBBED, I SAY! NO SANDCASTLES WERE BUILT THIS DAY! HOW DARE!

Okay, moving on! :D

So I played this on computer and I'll admit that the controls didn't entirely sit well with me, at least for vertical movement. You need to hold shift and then use W and S to move up and down, but when starting off you're likely also pressing space to jump and either A or D to move horizontally. This results in the player using their pinky finger to hold shift down. I think this would be improved if the Shift key was just removed from the equation, and all you had to do was jump and approach terrain to automatically grab it. Then if you happen to jump while climbing, the game would push you off the wall to prevent grabbing again immediately.

I also don't think using Enter and Backspace in the controls is a good idea. The game is designed around the player's left hand being in the area of WASD while their right hand is on the mouse, while Enter and Backspace are effectively in the centre of that. This forces the player to have to move one of their hands over. Instead, I'd say you should use Q and E as these are in the perfect spot to use for this.

Other than this, I encountered a few bugs and small issues that I wanted to bring to your attention. I'll just do these in a numbered list.

1. When the player opens the Help menu, it says on the bottom to use Backspace to return. However, this doesn't work. Instead, the player has to use the H key to close it.

2. Sometimes the game would require me to double click in order to place sand blocks.

3. At one point the game was interacting with the menu you get from the ESC key but doesn't show it. I didn't know what was going on at first as it was only affecting the W and S keys, but I guess after I hit Enter at some point it got into the Video settings and got to the Upscale control, at which point pressing A and D caused the value to change and cause weird visual stuff in my game every time I moved. While I don't know the precise reason it happened, I can note that I had tabbed out of the game to write a note down for this comment then went back in.

4. Speaking of the Upscale, if you change through it rapidly it causes the game to flicker with black screens. Not sure if this is even fixable, though.

That's all I have. Keep up the great work!

Wow, great work! The levels were fun and had me thinking. I felt like i was playing an old arcade machine (loved it!).  I thiink I would have liked the placement more if the silhouette lined up with the actual placement - it seems to place it just slightly lower than the actual indication. The island and the sprite work was great. I think you nailed the execution and introducing players to the game's concepts slowly. Amazing work.

As a developer you know getting feedback can be pretty difficult. We'd love for you to check out our game and provide feedback were possible. Always looking to improve. Thank you! /jam/feedback-quest-8-indiegames-x-indie-streamers/rate/3773442 

A really cool concept! I only got to stage 9 as once all the mechanics started to stack on eathover it got a bit overwhelming. The wall jump manoeuvre is a bit too hard to pull off with a keyboard, meaning I had to switch to a controller halfway through, and even then, it was difficult. I feel the experience would have been better if you stuck to the really cool sand building mechanic. I also may have found a bug where the wave does not come out again on stage 9. But, even with those issues, it is really fun, and I would definitely play an expanded version.